Donald Trump passed on John Bolton as secretary of state possibly because he doesn’t like his mustache

Multiple people close to the mogul's transition team told The Washington Post that Bolton's "brush-like" soup-strainer was one of the reasons he lost out on the top diplomatic job. (Evan Vucci/AP)

It was John Bolton's bristle that made Donald Trump bristle.

The former U.N. ambassador, who'd been under consideration to head up the State Department in the President-elect's incoming administration, lost out on the post, in part, because of Trump's dislike for his prominent mustache, according to a report Thursday.

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Multiple people close to the mogul's transition team told The Washington Post that Bolton's "brush-like" soup-strainer was one of the reasons he lost out on the top diplomatic job.

"Donald was not going to like that mustache," one anonymous associate told the paper.

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"I can't think of anyone that's really close to Donald that has a beard that he likes," the person added.

Pro-facial hair groups pounced on Trump's alleged criteria.

"Throughout much of his presidential campaign, Donald Trump has preyed on a broad array of fears — vilifying Mexicans, poking fun at the handicapped, misogynistically castigating women and now — perhaps most unsettling – discriminating against people of Mustached American descent," Irvin Galifin-Jones, an official with a group called the American Mustache Institute, said in a statement.

I appreciate the grooming advice from the totally unbiased mainstream media, but I will not be shaving my #mustache.

"I can't think of anyone that's really close to Donald that has a beard that he likes," the person added. (Gerry Broome/AP)

His unwavering support for the Iraq War, however, was thought to be a larger factor in why Trump didn't select him to lead the agency. Trump had repeatedly claimed he was against the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq before it started despite there being evidence to the contrary — and used those claims to build his foreign policy credentials.